Moira Brett of Jersey City (second from left) won the $10,000 first prize from the Start Something Challenge for pitching her product, GreenShave. The Start Something Challenge is hosted annually by Rising Tide Capital. Brett is pictured here with (from left to right): Elaina Watley; Rob Weiss, JPMorgan Chase’s head of Private Wealth Management in New Jersey; and Joe Dempsey, president of Middle Market Banking for JPMorgan Chase in New Jersey.

Because of the holidays over the next week, the Hudson Reporter newspapers will have special advertising and editorial deadlines.

For the Wednesday, Dec. 26 edition of the Bayonne Community News and the Thursday, Dec. 27 edition of the Midweek Reporter, the editorial deadline is 9 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 21. The classified and display advertising deadlines are noon on Friday, Dec. 21.

The office will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 24 and 25. It will reopen Wednesday, Dec. 26.

For the Sunday, Dec. 30 edition of the Hudson Reporter “Year in Review” all-county edition, the classified deadline is noon on Wednesday, Dec. 26 and the advertising deadline is 5 p.m.

For the Wednesday, Jan. 2 edition of the Bayonne Community News and the Thursday, Jan. 3 Midweek Reporter, the classified and display advertising deadline is noon on Friday, Dec. 28.

The office will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, and will reopen on Wednesday, Jan. 2.

For the Sunday, Jan. 6 edition of the Hudson Reporter “Year in Pictures,” the advertising deadline is 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 2

If you have questions about these deadlines or any other issue, please call (201) 798-7800. Also check www.hudsonreporter.com.

The two leading mayoral candidates are beginning to fill out the remaining slots on their 2013 election slates.

Last week, Mayor Jerramiah Healy announced that business analyst and activist Janet Chevres will run on his ticket for the Ward C City Council seat. And in a move that stunned many people, Healy challenger Steven Fulop announced that Assemblyman Sean Connors will run on his slate for Ward D. Many political observers were so baffled by the Fulop-Connors announcement that it almost overshadowed Healy’s selection of Chevres.

It was just a few weeks ago that Connors insultingly called Fulop – a former U.S. Marine and Iraqi War veteran – “un-American.”

Connors has been playing a bit of political ping pong over the past few months. Initially Connors, a longtime ally of Healy, endorsed the mayor in his upcoming race against Fulop. In response to this endorsement, Fulop said it should be expected that one Hudson County Democratic Organization machine politician (Connors) would support another (Healy). A war of words ensued between the two, which led Connors to call Fulop “un-American” in one of his press releases.

Last month Connors withdrew his support from Healy, citing the mayor’s weak response to Hurricane Sandy. At the time, Connors said, “It is time to support the next generation of leaders,” but stopped short of actually naming or endorsing Fulop.

Now Connors is on Fulop’s slate.

A resident of the Heights, Connors, 43, is a detective with the Jersey City Police Department who can help Fulop win votes in parts of Ward D that might be difficult for him to gain traction. (This happens to be one of Healy’s strongest wards and the area of the city where the mayor lives.) And Connors, the second candidate with a law enforcement background to run on Fulop’s slate, can help the mayoral candidate craft his anti-crime message.

Prior to his election to the state Assembly last year, Connors also served on the Jersey City Board of Education.

As for Chevres, the Healy campaign said she has played key roles with a number of non-profit organizations over the years, including the Boys and Girls Club of Jersey City; the Puerto Rican Association Organization; Friends of Liberty State Park; St. Joseph’s Home; Action 21; Parish of the Resurrection Little League Baseball; Washington Park League; JPMorgan Chase’s Good Works Employee Volunteer Program; Jersey Cares; and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Healy joins Mayors Against Illegal Guns in calling for firearm reform

Mayor Jerramiah Healy, a charter member of the gun control advocacy group Mayors Against Illegal Guns (chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino), signed a letter last week calling on President Barack Obama to implement policies to curb gun violence.

Specifically, the organization is calling for: 1) requiring every gun buyer to pass a criminal background check; getting high capacity rifles and ammunition magazines off our streets; and making gun trafficking a federal crime, among other measures.

Healy has long been an advocate of anti-gun legislation and has passed legislation at the local level to limit handgun purchases to one per month. That legislation, along with a companion bill regarding the reporting of lost and stolen firearms, was adopted at the state level and is now law in New Jersey.

Since taking office, the Healy administration has also organized several gun buyback programs which have collectively resulted in the removal of 1,297 firearms from the streets of Jersey City.

Has the time come for extra security at Jersey City council meetings?

Have City Council meetings become so raucous and out-of-hand that the public and members of the council need special protection? Apparently some people think so.

Last week the City Council introduced a measure that, if approved, will require that a Jersey City police officer be assigned to the council chambers when the governing body meets.

While this police officer would ostensibly be assigned to protect the nine members of the City Council, these meetings routinely attract many members of the public, some of whom have recently become confrontational with council representatives and other residents.

This police presence would be an addition to the security checkpoint at the entrance to City Hall. This checkpoint includes a metal detector and an X-ray scanner for bags.

The consideration of this measure comes after several arguments have broken out at recent council meetings that looked as though they could have turned physical.

In one incident, local restaurant owner Tom Parisi confronted Idalia Rosa, whose father lives near Parisi’s Brightside Tavern, after she spoke out in opposition to an ordinance that would have allowed him to have live entertainment without a variance.

Twice, the owner of a downtown pizza parlor – a community activist who supports Ward E City Councilman and 2013 mayoral candidate Steven Fulop – has tangled with fellow activist Esther Wintner after she has made pointed comments about Fulop.

And in a fight that almost rivaled the recent Manny Pacquiao-Juan Marquez bout, Fulop and city attorney William Matsikoudis recently had a yelling match after the councilman questioned Matsikoudis’ legal judgment.

As entertaining as these confrontations can sometimes be, there is a concern that they could turn physical or violent, particularly as the May 2013 mayoral race between Fulop and Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy approaches. The long-anticipated race between the two men is expected to be contentious and has already threatened to divide the city into pro-Healy and pro-Fulop camps. Given this backdrop, some council members believe assigning a police officer to the council chambers during meetings of the governing body is a good idea.

Ironically, however, Fulop, who has often been the flashpoint of some of the recent incidents, disagrees. He voted against the measure introduced last week.

Local students win statewide poster contest

The trustees of the New Jersey Agricultural Society recently presented 42 elementary school students with ribbons and prizes for their participation in the New Jersey Agricultural Society’s Poster and Essay Contest. Three of the winners – first grader Sincere Hutchins, fourth grader Omar Barghout, and fifth grader Amanda Velasquez, are home grown and attend the Joseph Brensinger School (P.S. 17).

The Poster and Essay contest is held annually as part of the Agricultural Society’s Learning Through Gardening program in honor of Farm City Week. The program is a five-year K-5 grant program that was developed by the New Jersey Agricultural Society as a way to improve students’ understanding of many core curriculum concepts using an on-site garden as a hands-on teaching tool.

The theme of this year’s contest was: Produce to Pizza and requested that students illustrate how all of the components of their favorite pizza, actually began on a farm.

The New Jersey Agricultural Society is a non-profit organization of nearly 500 members who seek to preserve the quality of life provided by the agriculture industry and to enhance the economic benefits that can be recognized through educational information and promotional programs.